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Children's sleep and health: A meta-review
Lisa Matricciani1, Catherine Paquet2, Barbara Galland3
1Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
Insights
This meta-review confirms that children's sleep is vital for their health, with strong links between sleep duration and adiposity and emotional well-being. Further research is needed on sleep quality and timing for comprehensive understanding.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Sleep Science
- Systematic Review Methodology
Background:
- Children's sleep characteristics (duration, timing, quality, variability) are increasingly linked to diverse health outcomes.
- Understanding these associations is crucial for promoting child well-being.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct a meta-review (systematic review of systematic reviews) examining the relationship between children's sleep and health.
- To synthesize findings and identify research gaps in this field.
Main Methods:
- Systematic search of Medline, PsychInfo, Scopus, and Embase databases.
- Inclusion of 39 systematic reviews covering cognition, psychosocial health, cardiometabolic health, adiposity, and pain.
- Descriptive synthesis of key findings and research needs.
Main Results:
- Substantial evidence links sleep duration to adiposity and emotional outcomes in children.
- Relationships between sleep quality/timing and blood lipids/glycemic control require further investigation.
- Links between sleep and metabolic syndrome in children appear weak and inconsistent.
Conclusions:
- Sleep is fundamentally important for children's health, as supported by systematic reviews.
- Future research should prioritize objective sleep assessment, diverse sleep characteristics beyond duration, and outcomes beyond adiposity.
- A multidimensional understanding of sleep within the 24-hour day is needed.
Abstract:
Sleep is essential for children's health and well-being. Characteristics of children's sleep such as sleep duration, timing, quality and variability are increasingly being associated with a wide range of health outcomes. The purpose of this study is to conduct a meta-review (systematic review of systematic reviews) to examine the relationship between sleep and health in children. A systematic search of four electronic databases (Medline, PsychInfo, Scopus, and Embase) was conducted to identify systematic reviews that examine the association between characteristics of children's sleep and health. Key findings, as well as areas in need of further research were synthesised descriptively. A total of 39 systematic reviews were identified for inclusion, covering areas of cognition, psychosocial health, cardiometabolic health, adiposity and other outcomes such as musculoskeletal pain. There is substantial and consistent evidence relating sleep duration to adiposity and emotional outcomes. The relationships between sleep quality and timing and blood lipids and glycaemic control merit further research. Links between sleep and metabolic syndrome in children appear to be weak and inconsistent. Key areas identified in need for further research included studies that objectively assess children's sleep and move beyond cross-sectional study designs and consider characteristics of sleep other than duration. It was also noted that covariates applied across studies varied considerably and the issue of residual confounding was raised in a number of reviews. Lastly, all reviews reported studies adopted a traditional approach of examining only one aspect of children's sleep. Systematic reviews support the notion that sleep is important for children's health. However, further studies that objectively assess sleep and consider characteristics of sleep other than duration and outcomes other than adiposity are needed. An understanding of sleep as a multidimensional construct and as a component of the 24-h d, is also needed to better understand the relationship between sleep and health in children.